Virus of the Mind
by That Pesky Nargle
Summary: The Doctor and Rose land the TARDIS on a cruise ship where nearly everyone besides the ship's crew has gotten a virus from "bad food." The Doctor has to find out what exactly the virus is, and how to stop it before it's too late. Some minor 10/Rose fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**My subconscious mind likes to create particularly detailed Doctor Who episodes in the form of dreams. This one was the most vivid, and I remember a lot of it, so I've decided to write it down. There were a few parts missing from the plot, so I had to fudge it a bit at some scenes. If it doesn't make perfect sense or there seem to be gaps, I apologize. I'm not nearly as creative when I'm actually awake. In the actual dream, it was in first person POV, and I was Rose but that proved to be more difficult to write, so this is in third person.**

**Set around the time of Series 2. The chapters might all be a bit short, I apologize in advance.**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1<strong>

"Run! Get in, get in!" the Doctor shouted. He and Rose ran into the TARDIS and he slammed the door behind them, relieved. They were both instantly laughing at the hilarity of the situation. Out of all things they had run from, the rain got them on their feet the quickest.

The Doctor and Rose had stopped near the rift in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS, and decided to get lunch. As they were ordering at an outdoor-seating-only joint, a downpour started so they stayed under the slight roof of the building and ran for it when they got their food.

"Afraid to get your hair wet, Doctor?" Rose chuckled after they'd gotten inside.

"I've lived for more than nine hundred years. Do you think I'm afraid of a bit of rain?" the Doctor said, drying his hair and messing it up again. "But you're right, I do love my hair."

They laughed and sat down on the seat at the console, breaking into their takeout bag of sub sandwiches and chips. Rose passed a sandwich to the Doctor, and he took a bite as he was fiddling with the controls on the console.

"So where to next, Rose Tyler?" he asked her.

"Well I don't know, where do you think?"

"We could always set the coordinates to random if you'd like, that's always a thrill!" Rose grinned and with an exclamation of "Allons-y!" the Doctor pulled some levers and held down switches and the blue box was off, the familiar shuddering and groaning echoing throughout the TARDIS.

Rose jumped up as soon as it settled, excited to see where they had ended up this time. She had gotten her coat and started to skip towards the door when the Doctor caught her arm.

"We aren't even finished with our chips yet. How about we wait until we finish eating, and THEN we see what's out there." Rose rolled her eyes, but sat back down with him. "Well, you know what they say, good things come to those who wait"

"You know that's a bit of an overused, clichéd saying," she told him.

"Well, isn't that what makes it so lovely?" the Doctor said defensively. They laughed and continued bantering on as they finished eating their chips.

"So how about we go see what really is out there, hmm?" They jumped up and Rose led the Doctor to the door by the hand. She looked up at him and they both grinned in anticipation as she opened the door.

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><p><strong>I'm really not confident about my writing style of this piece, and I really can't be sure if the voice and actions are in character, so any criticism is gratefully <strong>**accepted.**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

The Doctor and Rose stepped out of the blue box, and into a dingy maintenance closet with piles of plastic black garbage bags against the walls. There was a wall less than a foot away from their faces, restricting them from moving anywhere quickly.

"This sure was worth the suspense," Rose remarked.

"We could go back if you want," The Doctor said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"No! No, it was a bit anticlimactic is all," she said quickly as he opened a door to the side that lead out of the odorous closet.

They stepped out of the closet into a nicely decorated hallway that had a sort of modern tone to it.

"Well this is nice," The Doctor remarked.

The hallway was empty, and it seem to be set up a bit like a hotel with rooms on either side of the hallway with numbers on the doors. They walked to end and found a lift where they decided to go to the main floor. The doors opened, and a man greeted them inside.

"I don't think I've seen either of you before at meals or anything," he said with slight suspicion. "What department are you?"

Rose immediately pulled out the psychic paper (as The Doctor had promised she could be in charge of the gadget for a few days) and showed it to the man. "We've been here the whole cruise. My name Rose, and this is The Doctor." The Doctor raised a tentative eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, you must work with Director Jacobson then. My name is Walter Schock, it's a pleasure to meet you both. It's good to see another couple out of bed."

"What do you mean, out of bed?" The Doctor asked incredulously, his eyebrows shooting up. Rose let go of his hand for a moment.

"It's because of the food poisoning, isn't it? Nearly the whole ship has been vomiting for the past two days." The Doctor and Rose shared a look of relief, as they realized that they had both misinterpreted the question.

"Oh right, that. Er, which way would it be to get to the kitchens? I think I got mixed up," The Doctor improvised.

"You'll get off on the main floor, and go all the way to the right until you get to the buffets. The kitchens will be through a door near the back of the room," Walter said as he was leaving the lift. "Have a great day!"

"How the hell did you know we're on a cruise?" The Doctor asked Rose, surprised she had caught on so quickly.

"C'mon, why else would a businessman like him be wearing khaki shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals? Plus..." Rose pointed to a sign above the door that read "Universal Vacation Cruises"

"Right, got it."

When the lift made the _bing_ sound, the Doctor took Rose by the hand and strolled out onto the main floor where they came face to face with an enormous window.

"It's not a cruise then?" Rose asked tentatively, literally staring off into space.

"Just because we're in space doesn't mean it's not still a cruise," the Doctor told her. "They seemed to have brought a new meaning to the company Universal." Rose smiled broadly at him, and they both followed the directions Walter had given them to find the kitchens.

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><p><strong>Reviews are very much appriciated so that I can improve my writing! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

The Doctor and Rose pushed arm and arm through the swinging double doors to the kitchen where they were immediately confronted by several staff members.

"Oh um hello there," the Doctor said as he reached for his psychic paper. The staff did not seem happy to see the two of them.

"Kitchen inspection," Rose said as she held up the fake ID or badge.

"But we just had one the other day, you can't have in the same month," said a muscular man who didn't look like he belonged in a kitchen wearing a hairnet.

"Well I want to know more about this food poisoning. There is hardly anyone on the main deck, so why aren't you sick?"

"I dunno, we always eat the same food as anyone else," a younger girl piped up.

"What day did everyone get sick?" Rose asked.

"It was two days ago. In the morning, there were only about fifteen people out for breakfast. Everyone else was apparently sick in their rooms."

The Doctor walked to the back of the kitchen where some of the food was in metal trays for lunch. He stuck his finger in a pot of cheese sauce (to the dismay of the kitchen crew) and tasted it.

"Cheesy. With a HINT of synthetic virus maybe?" He analyzed the cheese with his screwdriver, and went on to scan every other tray of food. Rose walked over to him.

"What type of virus?"

"It's definitely not a natural one, that's for sure," the Doctor said, his eyebrows furrowed, a serious expression on his face. "It's not just something that could accidentally get into the food, either. Someone intentionally poisoned the food. But why, why aren't you all sick?" he motioned to the kitchen staff. "Has there been anything unusual going on in the past two or three days, apart form the sickness?"

"No, not other than the inspection on Wednesday," the same girl said. "The president of the business we're hosting for came in with the normal inspectors. She said she was interested to see how we prepare the food."

"Two days... And today isn't Saturday, by chance?" the Doctor asked, already knowing the answer by the blank stares he received.

"So you think we should maybe meet with this president? Assuming she's not sick along with the rest of the ship." Rose said.

The Doctor grinned at her and said, "I think we shall!"

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><p><strong>Apologies for the short chapter and lack of details, thanks for reviewing!<strong>


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